Early Action

Level 1: 50-100, ante

Action in the first hour on level one has been at a steady pace with many of the tables playing small and causally in this unusually small field.

At table 60 Vitaly Lunkin continues to ride out his summer momentum. Currently his stack is at just over 70,000 after taking down a decent three-way pot from the small blind. Lunkin bet 300 on a flop of Q710 and got two callers; John Spadavecchia and Denny Robinson. The turn brought the 4. Lunkin bet 1,000 and both players called The river was the 5 and everyone checked. Lunkin turned over Q8 for top pair and raked in the pot.

Lunkin make two of the most high profiles tables of the summer by finishing 4th at the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E and taking home a bracelet in the $40,000 No Limit event.

Also at table 60 is Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, who is truly living up to his famous moniker today. Taking non-stop, “The Mouth” discusses his new strategy for the day. “I’ve bluffed off 17k raising every hand” Matusow quipped, down to 43,000. Several minutes later Chau Giang came over to visit his table and Matusow loudly exclaimed  “F the World Series. How many times did you cash, five? That’s four times more than me”

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The always aggressive Scott Montgomery just took down a pot at table 59 with a usual holding for him. On a board of 942A8 Montgomery led out for a pot sized bet of 7,600 from the small blind. Allen Hickman made the call and Montgomery turned over 53 for the wheel. Up to 63,000, it represents only a 3,000 net chip gain for Montgomery over the day.

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An interesting table draw should be pointed out, as Justin Young and Christian “Charder30” Harder sit together at table 61. Both men made the final ten at the WPT Championship earlier in the summer. Young bubbled the final table in 8th place, while Harder finished 4th at the televised table.